


baby, dry those eyes

by tmylm



Series: ficlet prompt fills [3]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Established Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell, F/F, Ficlet, Fluff, bechloe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29881317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmylm/pseuds/tmylm
Summary: Prompt fromrebeccamitchellon tumblr!"chloe wants to surprise beca by baking her a treat--only she gets distracted during the process. beca returns home to find their shared kitchen a disaster area and her girlfriend a grumpy/emotional mess."
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Series: ficlet prompt fills [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2192562
Comments: 18
Kudos: 69





	baby, dry those eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Jet Black Alley Cat's _She's Alright_.

There is a certain amount of obvious exhaustion that comes along with the somewhat intimidating task of hand-rearing newborn kittens. Even more so when there just happens to be _five_ of them. Without their mother, however, they’d needed a temporary foster home, and when they’d been brought into the clinic at less than two days old by a panicked passerby, Chloe had instantly jumped to volunteer.

Between school and the vet clinic, it is fair to say that Chloe has an incredibly hectic schedule, but she truly hadn’t expected any help. She’d known that the kittens were her responsibility, but Beca, with a stressful full-time job of her own to contend with, had surprised her with her willingness to assist, and Chloe has remained in awe of her dedication the entire time.

A fresh batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies may not seem like much of an expression of gratitude, especially taking into account the lack of sleep thanks to duties such as night feeds and bathroom training, but Chloe wants to do something nice for her girlfriend to show her how much she appreciates all of her help, so she figures that this is a start.

Besides, Beca often asks (hints, she totally hints) about Chloe’s famous chocolate chip cookies and when she is thinking of making them again, so with Beca working late this evening, Chloe decides that it is the perfect time to surprise her.

As with everything with five three-week-old kittens, however, the relatively simple task is much easier said than done, and following Chloe stretching upward on her bare tiptoes to retrieve the already opened bag of flour from the top cupboard, bag slipping from her grasp and a thick cloud of flour engulfing their small kitchen, things only seem to have gone from bad to worse.

The obnoxiously loud clatter of flying mixing bowls and Chloe’s resulting yelp had, unsurprisingly, woken the kittens, all five of whom had begun whining immediately. Always by the firm belief of animals first, self second, Chloe hadn’t even bothered to turn off the oven she had already begun to preheat, and instead zoomed across the small living space to tend to the five tiny balls of fur, to reassure them that everything is okay and that Mama Chloe has simply made a clumsy.

Of course, kitten babies, much like human babies, do not generally understand what is actually going on, so that reassurance is another thing that, while fine in theory, is not so much in practice.

By the time she has managed to get them settled again, Chloe’s own exhaustion has taken over, and with the daunting task of fixing the flour covered kitchen before Beca returns home and realizes she does not quite have things just as under control as Chloe would like her to believe she does, she is left feeling a sickening mixture of defeated, drained and entirely frustrated—presumably the feelings of any exhausted new mother.

Over the years, Chloe likes to believe that she has gotten better at handling her emotions, but everybody has their off days, and as Chloe kneels down onto the hard wood of the kitchen floor to begin gathering up the fallen mixing bowls and attempting to scoop up the bigger patches of flour with her hands—because apparently searching for the brush is just too much effort right now—Chloe realizes it is very much one of those days.

By the time Beca eventually arrives home, long hair dripping with freezing cold remnants of outside’s pouring rain, her gaze lifts to take in the sight of a very defeated looking Chloe Beale sitting in the middle of their kitchen floor, covered almost head to toe in a white dust of flour. Frustrated tears begin to well up in her wide, bright blue eyes, and Beca instantly begins to panic.

“Chlo, hey, what’s going on?” she asks in a somewhat gentle tone, immediately shaking off her wet outside jacket and heading quickly for the mess that is their kitchen. “What happened?”

“The flour fell,” Chloe responds in the saddest, most exhausted tone of voice Beca has ever heard. She glances toward a now kneeling Beca with a quivering bottom lip and a film of white flour in her auburn hair, a sight that Beca would find incredibly amusing under any other circumstance, but right now it only serves to make her heart ache. “The flour fell, then the bowls fell, then the kittens woke up and now the kitchen looks like this,” Chloe whines, head tipping back in frustration. “I just wanted to make you cookies for helping with the kittens, and now everything’s a disaster.”

As Beca listens to her very sorrowful explanation, she instinctively reaches out to brush the flour from the front of Chloe’s hair, though it proves a bad idea thanks to the rain having dampened her hands.

“You don’t have to thank me for helping,” Beca says with a small chuckle, though there is a sympathetic look etched onto her face by the time Chloe’s head straightens to lock her sad, watery eyes with Beca’s. “I want to help. I like helping. The kittens are cool, and—” she pauses briefly, brows tugging neatly together. “Dude, why’s it so hot in here?”

“Oven’s on,” Chloe pouts exaggeratedly, words sad sounding and almost petulant.

Beca should not find this cute. She should be sad for Chloe, and she _is_ , she totally is, but God, with her widened eyes and pouted bottom lip, her girlfriend really is just so freaking adorable, it is difficult for Beca to find this anything but. It is instinct for her to reach for Chloe’s flour covered hand, and despite the fact that Chloe looks entirely done with any form of interaction right now, it is unsurprising when familiar fingers lace lazily back through her own.

“I just wanted to make you cookies,” Chloe mumbles again, releasing a long sigh through her nostrils. “The chocolate chip ones that you like.”

In spite of herself, Beca cannot help her small yet adoring smile as her gaze sweeps over Chloe’s flour dusted face. “You’re adorable, Chlo,” she says softly, arching forward to press a gentle kiss to the center of Chloe’s forehead.

“Maybe if I’d actually been able to make you your cookies I would’ve been,” Chloe murmurs, though her body relaxes with the way Beca’s lips press to her skin, the action both coddling and reassuring in the midst of her minor disaster.

“I mean, I do like your cookies,” Beca says with a small smirk as she eventually leans back, then stretches out her free arm to twist the dial on their outdated oven. It is fortunate that the kitchen in their shoebox apartment is so compact; she doesn’t even have to let go of Chloe’s hand.

“No,” Chloe whines, face scrunching as she glances between the now turned off oven and Beca’s confused face. “I still want to make them.”

Beca bites back a grin at that, though she is sure it is still very obviously threatening to break its way forward. “Right now?” Chloe only stares in response with those big, sad eyes, so Beca gently nods her head. “Alright, how about I help?” she pauses then, only to rise from the floor, then reaches for Chloe’s other hand until she can cautiously tug her to her feet, too. “Let’s go get you cleaned up first, though, okay?” Her gaze flickers to the patch at the front of Chloe’s hair, frown wrinkling onto her face. “That’s kind of making a paste.”

Chloe quietly groans at that, though she nods her head in agreement all the same.

“Come on,” Beca casts a quick glance to their disaster area kitchen, before beginning to lead Chloe in the direction of the small bathroom—careful not to slip on the dusty mess of their floor. “Let’s take a shower.”

“Fine,” Chloe frowns, trailing defeatedly along behind her like a particularly sad kicked puppy. “But you have to keep your hands to yourself. I’m sad, and I really want to make you those cookies.”

“Can’t promise that, Chlo,” Beca shrugs, twisting to glance over her shoulder, and openly smirking in response to the glare Chloe is shooting her way in return. “Who’s gonna wash your hair?”

Chloe’s eyes narrow in on Beca’s face, and Beca notes that her previous tears seem to have disappeared, so that is at least a start. “Fine,” Chloe grumbles halfheartedly, releasing another defeated sigh through her nose, “but that’s the only touching you’re allowed to do.”

 _Probably_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for the prompt! Find me on [tumblr](http://chloebeale.tumblr.com)!


End file.
